After a 3-hour long horseback riding tour and a half a day climbing up and down the ruins in Copan, my friend and I decided to sleep in on our third day in Honduras. We had breakfast at Via Via Cafe and hitched a L20 ride from Parque Central to a tropical rain forest, the Macaw Mountains, 2.5km north of the Copan Ruins. Our tickets for Macaw Mountain were good for three days and it included a one-hour tour guide. However, we arrived late in the afternoon so all the tours were over by then.
We roamed around on our own looking at a rainbow of feathered birds. The macaws were kept in cages that were large enough for visitors to walk through. Other birds, like the toucans, were kept in smaller cages. I’m not a an animal fanatic so it didn’t take long for me to lose interest. Yes, these birds were beautiful but they were just birds. (No offense bird lovers.)
There is a river that runs through Macaw Mountain. Down by the water was a guy in a bright red shirt. It was the end of the day and no one else was in the forest so I assumed that he was just a maintenance worker. He was lingering around, playing with his stick (pun not intended). I saw him as I approached the bridge to cross the river. I turned around to look for my friend and when my gaze returned to the water, the guy in the red shirt in the river was playing with his other stick (pun intended).
He clearly wasn’t a maintenance worker. I was certain I wasn’t seeing things. He had a disgusting grin on his face as he excitedly waved his schlong at me like there was no tomorrow. I was startled but I pretended I didn’t see it. I “casually” sauntered over to my friend and whispered, “There’s a guy in the river who just flashed me.”
Since my friend and I were the only ones there, I felt extremely uncomfortable sticking around, especially since we’re girls. I walked quickly through the forest while looking over my shoulders, paranoid that my flasher might jump me. When I arrived to the souvenir shop where we purchased our tickets, I told the girl at the front desk that there was a man who has his pants down. I don’t know if she didn’t fully understand or if she just didn’t want to be bothered by it. She sat there with a blank look on her face.
Fortunately, there was a tour guide who as about to leave for the day standing nearby. I explained to him what I saw and to appease me, he offered to take us for a tour. It would be safer that way. He explained that many people come to the river to shower. Sometimes they don’t realize that other people are around. I believed him but this was certainly not the case. By the time we returned to the river, the man in the red shirt was gone.
